This chapter is from the book

Geography Is against us

Unfortunately for most of us, petroleum reserves are not distributed evenly around the world. Quite the opposite; they are highly concentrated (Figure 1.4) and, worse yet, concentrated in parts of the world that, on the whole, are not the ones that use the most petroleum today but will likely require more in the future (Figure 1.5). The Middle East has 62% of the world's oil reserves (Figure 1.6); the rest of Africa 9.7%; South and Central America 8.6% (most of it in Venezuela and Brazil); the Russian Federation 6.6%. North America has just 5%, half of it in the United States.14 So, as Figure 1.4 makes clear, oil reserves are extraordinarily concentrated geographically.

(Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2007; London, British Petroleum Company)

Figure 1.6 Middle Eastern nations have 62% of the world's available oil. Most of this is in five nations: Saudi Arabia (with more than 20%), Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.16

It would be naive to think that the lopsided geographic distribution of petroleum will not continue to create international conflicts. As long as the United States and other countries without vast oil reserves continue to depend so heavily on petroleum, these conflicts are likely to increase, which is all the more reason to turn to other sources of energy as soon as possible.

Although the Middle East dominates world oil reserves, most of that oil goes to Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia, whereas the United States imports a lot of oil from Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela (Figure 1.7). Obviously, the more oil the United States imports, the more vulnerable its economy is to the reserves in other nations and to political and environmental events that limit or prevent this importation. Given the importance of abundant energy for a vibrant economy and society, greater energy independence is an important goal, but for petroleum this is not and will not be possible for the United States.